Thursday, November 1, 2012

Expectations - A Hindrance To Creativity?

In the recent release Cocktail
(directed by Homi Adajania of Being Cyrus fame), at one point in the second
half of the film, the lead character, Veronica, played by Deepika Padukone,
gets belligerent due to excessive alcohol consumption doubled by the emotional
upheaval she is going through of having lost her love (Gautam aka Saif Ali
Khan) to her best friend (Meera aka Diana Penty). While driving back from the
nightclub the three of them were at, she insists Gautam to accompany her when
she has to go pee, and not Meera, reasoning that he has seen ‘everything’ for
her to have any inhibitions. Next up, the film goes dangerously close to taboos
of a threesome upon initiation from Veronica and yet, it chooses to stay away
from it. Thereafter, the film succumbs to mediocricity and superficiality,
lumbering along towards its predictable end despite weaving out interesting
characters that explore bad behavior which is a latent resident in all of
us.

Why do interesting plot points ultimately
get watered by the baggage of popular interest? Why is it so hard for filmmakers
to step out of their comfort zones and go the whole hog? And if they do, why is
their manifestation of creativity decreed to be conformist, blanket-like and archetypical?
Why is this mold so difficult to break in commercial filmmaking?

One of my favorite directors ever
in Indian cinema, Dibaker Banerjee, points out in an interviewhere, that
all filmmakers should leave their comfort zones and focus on new ideas. Until
they come out of this mould they have created for themselves, no new grounds
will be broken. Ironically enough, there is no better person to advocate this
thought than the man who has harped on stunning new territories and innovative
storytelling techniques in all of his four films. But the problem doesn’t end
here. Commercial filmmaking has forever been straitjacketed by many overweening
forces seeded in our cinema culture for ages and while today, we have knocking
opportunities and respectable avenues to go ahead and make the film one wants to
and also get a theatrical release, there is a bigger threat that looms upon the
filmmakers. As Anurag Kashyap has pointed out in various interviews, the fight
now is not with the studios and producers to support the film that you want to
make, the real struggle now is to live up to an expectant audience who respects
you for the work you have done but does not want you to explore anything
different in your future ventures. For instance, Kashyap himself faced enough
flak when he decided to produce upcoming films like Aiyyaa and Luv Shuv Tey
Chicken Khurana under his banner.

As Kashyap has pointed out on
numerous occasions post his commercial success with DevD, most of the feedback
from the doting audiences was to see him make another similar movie. Success of
films brings a lot of good things, but one of the disadvantages of success is
that it plants a bit of fear, whether we realize it or not. This fear is rooted
in the expectations of the audience who want a Kashyap to only make a dark
serious film that could carry forward the flag of alternative cinema, in their
self-assumed way. These expectations could become an hindrance to real creative
exploration, showing up in the form of conformist ideas or indulgence in some
other filmmakers. Though Banerjee may coax filmmakers to be inspired
differently each time and they may actually be able to find support for their
dream, but they can still wheeze under the weight of these expectations to do
something within their constructed comfort zones.

Resting under the umbrella of
one's comfort zone and hurling out cringe inducing plotting has been a
redundant practice in Indian cinema. Whether it is a character sketch that
is built around certain chronic stereotypes or ham-fisted cliches or a
well accustomed successful formula pattern that is unrelentingly repeated in
many ventures or just associating clumsy traits and behaviors to the people of
particular cast, race or region, we seem to have done it all. Prakash Jha's
Aarakshan diluted the topic of reservations in the interest of minimizing
hurtful content. Only a 5 year old cannot guess what would happen next in one
of Madhur Bhandarkar movies. Imtiaz Ali has been pummeled time and again for redundantly
re-writing the carefree female characters travelling to amazing locales to fall
in love. This year's release, Ishaqzaade, went a step ahead and justified its
male chauvinism with a despicable undertone of love. Even Anurag Kashyap was
blamed for his indulgence in Gangs of Wasseypur I by the same audience who
wants to see him do that.

When it is not indulgence,
proverbially hackneyed character sketches become the order of the day. From
Mehmood in Padosan to Shah Rukh Khan in Ra.One, we havent outgrown our
depiction of South Indian characters as one common template of a Madarasi doing
'Aiyyo'. Abhishek Bachchan's character in Bol Bachchan is just another example
of profiling effeminate characters with a threadbare gay image (or vice versa,
I am not too sure what Rohit Shetty intended to do!). Over years of Indian
films, most girl characters who are 'modern' with habits such as drinking,
smoking etc. are shown to be Christian; most cops are shown to be Marathis;
most foreign characters are shown to know and speak in Hindi; and most
gangsters are shown to be Muslims. Our biggest hits are the ones where female
characters dont get much to do rather than being an object of desire. This
inherent sexism allows us to cast our lead heroines only in characters that
suit the sensibilities of the masses, that too only until they are married,
while we have no qualms about the middle aged hero playing a college kid.

Does it hurt to show a South
Indian or a North Indian or a gay character in his/her regular capacity rather
than a mere extension of caricatures? Does a gay character have to wear pansy
outfits and give provocative expressions to men? Why are no lead roles written
for middle-aged actresses as opposed to the custom anywhere around the world? While
I hold the filmmakers responsible for these fallacies, I would still argue that
it is our expectation of what we want to see that builds these characters on
screen. The filmmakers are just more than ready to serve what we want to see, motivated
by the Box Office outcome.

Hence, expectations infallibly
become the bane of creative filmmaking in most cases. It is only when our
scriptwriters and directors dare to get rid of these trite expectations
and reconstruct their structures without a hegemony towards derived
influences and thoughts that we will we see a dawn amongst the audience,
because all they care about is a good time at the movies. Cinema being a
one-way medium of entertainment, the change cannot really come the other way
round. Filmmakers should not be afraid of failures, even if it comes in the
form of a criticism from their own fan base. Give the audiences zero options of
stereotypes or formulas at the theatres, yet provide them the wholesome
entertainment they crave. Remember, well-made films will always work. I wish to
intone this as a necessity, more than a requisition!